dehumanize

[ dee-hyoo-muh-nahyzor, often, -yoo- ]

verb (used with object)

, de·hu·man·ized, de·hu·man·iz·ing.

1. to regard, represent, or treat (a person or group) as less than human:

   Society still has a tendency to devalue and dehumanize those with disabilities and to suppress their voices.

2. to deprive of human qualities or attributes; divest of individuality:

   Conformity dehumanized him.

dehumanize

/ diːˈhjuːməˌnaɪz /

verb

1. to deprive of human qualities
2. to render mechanical, artificial, or routine

Derived Forms

• deˌhumaniˈzation, noun

Other Words From

• de·hu·man·i·za·tion [dee-hyoo-m, uh, -nahy-, zey, -sh, uh, n, -yoo-], noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of dehumanize¹

First recorded in 1810–20; de- + humanize

Example Sentences

Back at Bessemer, though, workers were being pressed to work harder and longer, and they felt dehumanized.

From MIT Technology Review

By that, she includes those who have been dehumanized and devalued, even those whom we might think got what they deserve.

From Washington Post

In that instant, in that moment, I’m fearful as a woman, I’m dehumanized as a woman.

From Ozy

Hope that we can all set aside our egos for a moment to see where we might have casually dehumanized someone else.

From Time

What becomes clear, in reading Grinker’s book, is that at several points in our recent history, our stories, far from making sense of suffering or easing it, have served to dehumanize people and deprive them of their dignity.

From Washington Post

There are a number of words people use to verbally attack, dehumanize, and other transgender women like me.

From The Daily Beast

Epps is, in many ways, a false prophet who uses religion as a means to dehumanize what he calls his “property.”

From The Daily Beast

Totalitarians dehumanize their enemies; democrats empathize.

From The Daily Beast

The way they justify their abuse is that they dehumanize them.

From The Daily Beast

Such despicable nonsense is spouted for one reason: to dehumanize Palestinians.

From The Daily Beast

But Mr. Kingsley refuses to dehumanize himself in order to become historian and philosopher.

From Project Gutenberg

I combat it as having a tendency to dehumanize the negro, to take away from him the right of ever striving to be a man.

From Project Gutenberg

Does God's law dehumanize the slave, and reduce him to a mere chattel?

From Project Gutenberg

We dehumanize the universe, but we do not render it the less grand and mysterious.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• abase
• degrade